Want to move or delete all emails in a folder? Looking for a fast way to mark all mail? Find out here how to select all emails in iCloud Mail using iCloud.com in a browser.
First, to Have a Wall and Not See It
To keep animals inside your garden or out of it, you can surround the lot with a wall, of course.
For the proper “ha-ha” moment, build the wall, though, and bury it. The ingenious ha-ha as a moat on the outside and a wall up to the ground level on the inside offers the best of both worlds: a wall that is both high enough not to be easily climbed or jumped and practically invisible.
Now, how about a ha-ha around all the emails inside iCloud Mail?
How to Select All Emails on iCloud Mail Using iCloud.com in a Browser
No time to read? How to Mark All as Read in iCloud Mail at iCloud.com
Time needed: 1 minute
To select all emails on an iCloud Mail folder on iCloud.com:
- Open the folder in which you want to select all messages.
Shortcut: If you see no folder list on the left, click the current folder’s name above the message list and pick from the folder list that pops up.
Only folders: You can only select all messages in a single folder, not across folders or the whole account. - Select any message.
Alternative: You can also press Tab to switch first to the Search field, then press Tab again to switch (invisibly, though) to the message list.
- Now press Command A (Mac) or Ctrl A (Windows and Linux).
Alternative without keyboard: Without using the iCloud Mail keyboard shortcut, see below for a crude alternative.
- Scroll to the very bottom to load more messages.
How to know to scroll: Compare the number of selected messages (in the preview pane) to the folder’s email count (above the list of messages).
Selected automatically: iCloud Mail adds the emails to the selection automatically. - Act on the selected messages.
Move: Select Move followed by the folder selection to move all emails.
Delete: Click Trash to delete the messages in bulk.
Mark and junk: Select Mark to mark all as read or unread, flag and filter as spam en masse.
Select All on iCloud Mail Using Mouse or Trackpad
To select all emails in a folder without the keyboard shortcut above:
- Select the first message in the folder.
- Scroll down the list of messages to have iCloud Mail load more.
- Continue loading messages until no more new emails appear.
- Hold the Shift key (this, alas, is inevitable) and click the last message in the folder.
- Act on the selected emails as above.
On an iPhone? How to Select All Emails on an iPhone
How to Select All on iCloud Mail Using iCloud.com in a Browser: FAQ
Can I act on more than 10,000 emails?
Yes.
While previous versions of iCloud Mail in a browser at iCloud.com would only act on 10,000 emails at a time, you can now
- select and act on any number of messages in a folder.
iCloud Mail will display a Processing… bar at the screen’s bottom while the action is completed.
If you do not wish to act on tens of thousands of emails in a browser, to work with folders that contain more than ten thousand emails, you can also resort to these alternatives:
- Filter or search for relevant messages.
You can select all search results, for instance, or all filtered emails, then act on them in bulk. - Select in batches.
This is the most cumbersome method, for smaller selections, see above deleting using mouse or trackpad, though. - Use an email program.
Setting up an iCloud Mail account using IMAP or using Apple Mail (for Mac, iPhone and iPad) lets you select and act on all the messages in any folder. The email program then synchronizes changes with iCloud Mail at iCloud.com.
What happens if a new email arrives in the folder while all its emails are selected?
If a new message arrive or are routed to a folder where you have all emails selected at iCloud.com, they will be added to the selection automatically.
(How to select all on iCloud Mail using iCloud.com tested in a desktop browser; first published August 2021, last updated November 2024)